On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed health reform into law. Action now shifts from developing the legislation to implementation. The phrase “the secretary shall” appears regularly throughout the reform law, often followed by a directive to take immediate regulatory action.

HCFO released a new findings brief based on a study led by David Dranove, Ph.D., Northwestern University, that compared the financial experience of insured and uninsured near-elderly individuals who suffer a major illness. 

David Dranove, Ph.D., Northwestern University, was the principal investigator for two HCFO grants that examined the impact of uninsurance on the wealth of the near elderly and a new analytical method to assess market power. A third HCFO study, in which Dr. Dranove served as a co-principal investigator, explored the relationship between price and provider concentration.

Claudia Schur, Ph.D., and Jennifer Lucado published the April 15, 2010 Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., brief, "Strategies Used by Local Health Departments to Better Serve Diverse Communities."

Bradley Herring, Ph.D., and E. Kathleen Adams, Ph.D., published the article, “Using HMOs to Serve the Medicaid Population: What Are the Effects on Utilization and Does the Type of HMO Matter?” in the April 11, 2010 online edition of Health Economics.

Jeffrey McCullough, Ph.D., and colleagues published the article, “The Effect of Health Information Technology on Quality in U.S. Hospitals,” in the April 2010 issue of Health Affairs.

Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D., and colleagues published the article, “Low-Value Services in Value-Based Insurance Design,” in the April 2010 issue of the The American Journal of Managed Care.

Grantees in the News

Findings from a study led by Jeffrey McCullough, Ph.D., were highlighted in the April 6, 2010 Disease Management Care Blog post, “Health Affairs and Their Issue on Health Information Technology: Your DMCB Helps You Take a Tour.”

Findings from a study led by David Dranove, Ph.D., were highlighted in the April 7, 2010 Huffington Post blog post, “Going Bankrupt over Illness.”

Findings from a study led by David Dranove, Ph.D., were highlighted in the March 31, 2010, Wright on Health blog post, “Going Bankrupt over Illness.”

Lawrence P. Casalino, M.D., Ph.D., was quoted in the March 28, 2010, Better Health article, “AMA Issues First Report Card on Health Insurance.”

Findings from a study led by Judith H. Hibbard, Dr.P.H., were highlighted in the March 22, 2010, Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, “Hospital Safety Info Shielded from Public.”

RWJF Releases

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a content alert highlighting the April 2010 The American Journal of Managed Care article,“Low-Value Services in Value-Based Insurance Design,” by Peter Neumann, Sc.D., and colleagues. This paper was commissioned by HCFO as a part of its Benefit Design Health Reform Work Group.

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